Christian Barnard
Assistant Director of Education Reform, Reason Foundation
Christian Barnard is assistant director of education reform at Reason Foundation.
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Public education at a crossroads: Education spending data for all 50 states 2002-2020
Examining every state's K-12 public education spending, staffing and enrollment levels, teacher salaries and more.
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Gov. Gavin Newsom’s education budget ignores fundamental problems
The governor largely ignores declining public school enrollment and California's unsustainable K-12 education spending.
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Arkansas K-12 education finance series: A short history of school finance reform and look at 2024’s adequacy review process
This column is the first in a series examining Arkansas’s K-12 funding system and the state legislature’s biennial adequacy review process.
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Funding Education Opportunity: Estimating costs for universal school choice, new choice programs, and more
The argument that private school choice programs save taxpayer money has been compelling and straightforward for decades.
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North Carolina needs to fix its education funding formula
North Carolina’s education funding formula is confusing for everyone and prioritizes funding for school districts that least need it.
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Florida’s education savings accounts won’t defund public schools
Florida is now giving all families the choice to withdraw from public schools and opt for an ESA of about $8,700 per child.
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Education savings accounts and Alabama’s PRICE Act would help students and families
The proposed education savings accounts in the Parental Rights in Children's Education Act would empower students and parents.
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Updated Arizona K-12 education finance model with latest school finance and transportation data
The model allows users to test changes to Arizona’s funding formula, see how changes to local property taxes impact funding, and see how potential changes affect the funding of individual school districts and charter schools.
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Texas Senate Bill 8 would improve open enrollment policies
Adopting a strong open enrollment policy in Texas would ensure that public schools truly are available to all students.
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Analyzing Nebraska’s proposed legislation impacting school finance and property taxes
State policymakers shouldn’t pass up this opportunity to decrease the education funding formula’s overreliance on property taxes and to make the formula more transparent and student-centered.
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Clearing up definitions of backpack funding
Without strong funding portability mechanisms, school districts have weak financial incentives to welcome transfer students.
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Examining South Carolina’s proposed open enrollment bill
House Bill 3843 includes good protections for families and needed transparency.
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California’s schools need to adapt to the state budget woes
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recently-released budget projects a $22.5 billion deficit, which means school districts will likely need to rightsize operations.
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Public education funding without boundaries: How to get K-12 dollars to follow open enrollment students
How to ensure state and local education funds flow seamlessly across district boundaries.
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Three areas in K-12 education that need more transparency
Data and information on special education services, student transportation and school capacity is not readily available to parents or policymakers.
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Cracking down on critical race theory in public schools was not a winning issue
Rather than further politicize schools and classrooms, politicians should pursue policies that let parents choose whatever school is best for their children.
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School districts use ‘capacity’ to keep low-income transfer students out
School districts use arbitrary definitions of capacity to claim they are full and deny transfer requests from low-income students.
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Why teacher salaries are flat as school spending soars
Benefit costs, staffing trends and class sizes may explain why teacher salaries have remained flat while K-12 education spending has grown.
